Elliot's Trackside Diner..DECEMBER, 2013!!!

[JeremyB]

Hi Guys,

How is everyone today? warmed up a bit today and even calling for some rain tomorrow before we go back to a deep freeze.

Built two freight car kits that I picked up at the hobby shop yesterday, also have four more coming for me this week from a shop I buy from, just didnt feel like the 2 hour drive to get them. They might be here by Tuesday if not should be here on Thursday.

Has anybody heard from Ken lately? He hasnt been on since the summer has he? Well Im going to go watch the hockey game and flip through some model railroader.

[galaxy]

Welcome Mark H/crhostler61!

We don't use four-letter words here in the diner! W*rk and Sn*w are two of them!

We don't use them for obvious reasons and you pointed out some!

MOH {My Other Half} has New Years off, but only day all week for 2 j*bs...

I am "retired"...but I have more things to do and more W*rk now that I "have nothing to do"!

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY! YOU CAN DO IT!

 

 

[crhostler61]

Hello to all from northern Nevada

Turned out to be a nice sunny day with a cloudless blue sky. Still 28 degrees though. Hot coffee is always a good deal. Winding down my 5 day holiday weekend and relutantly getting set to return to work tomorrow afternoon. Didn't get done nearly what I had hoped on the railroad in these 5 days...still dragging. Between my employer beating me and still going rounds with a respiratory crud...just might try to get New Years day off as a vacation day. I'll have to find out what vac time I have when I get to anti-heaven (Uh...work) tomorrow afternoon.

Have a good one all

Mark H

[Anonymous]

Good Evening!

Janie, I am hungry, so I´ll go for a Barry-sized burger with all the works and a cold , please.

The visit to my friend´s place was quite successful. He still had 1.5 mm brass rod in his never enhding stock of bits and pieces, of which I was able to borrow a few iches. The cardboard loco now sports handrails, lamp casing, door handles and and an air intake with cap. I also gave it a coat of white primer to get rid of that cardboard look. There is not much left to do, just "print" the windows and loos and glue them to the body. I will do that tomorrow.

The paint is still not completely dry, so here is just another sneak preview:

The picture is pretty bad - I will make better ones once the mock-up is finished.

Ray - I am looking forward to seeing new pictures of your blacksmith´s shop. I could never do something like it. MY eyes are getting breally bad these days - I need new glasses, but there is no way I can afford them. My vision is pretty bad, so a pair of glasses runs into about$ 1,000 - just for the glasses, without the frame.

Well, sofa time is coming up - CU tomorrow!

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll hqave a short stack of buttermilk pancakes, NYS Maple Syrup, bacon, and some dark roast coffee in my FGLK Mug please.

Today is supposed to be "Partly" here in the Finger Lakes.  Partly what, they haven't said.  Right now it is dark gray and gloomy outside with the temp around 41°F.  Would be nice if the big yellow thing would show up as I could sure use some kWh from the roof....  Only made about 60 kWh so far in December.  December is the lowest month of the year, but I was hoping to get about 100 kWh.  Aint gonna happen I guess.

I have a couple of errands to run today, and then I will be getting my laundry done and spend some quality time with the Layout.  May get the last side of the Blacksmith's shop done by the end of the day.

I had a long post all set to put up last night when I moved the mouse and it disappeared....  Hope this one goes through OK.  This new version of the site is the worst they have ever done.  I still hate the mouseover pull down that blocks my being able to refresh the page witout moving the pointer about 6 inches on my screen! total PITA!

Catch you all later!

73

[TMarsh]

  Well, I see they got the spacing issue resolved.

Glad to see you're home and doin fine as can be expected Inch. Now, as long as the young'uns can stay out of Pawpaw's lap....

[TMarsh]

 

Good Morning!!!

 

 

 

Coffee and some of those sticky caramel roll things please. Thank you.

 

I've been coming in on Chrome since the big change due to me not being able to log in under IE. Today I decided to try IE again and behold here I am. We'll see if the log out issue plagues me as well later. 

 

 

 

Sunny, with a high near 53. Tomorrow is 19 and Monday is 14. No wonder people are sick.

 

 

 

V8 Dennis- Well, I assume you were referring to my recounting of what a “friend” of mine said. Let’s just say I was quoting what someone said about the retaliation to what Phil Robertson said in that magazine and how the most outspoken and demanding people on freedom of speech and tolerance of views, are usually the most restrictive and least tolerant of what others say or do if it contradicts what they think or feel. Due to what he was talking about when he made the statement, I hesitate to explain any more because it probably would dip a bit far into religious stuff and maybe a bit much for the moderators to  accept as just a passing comment.

 

 

 

As I re-read my post Dennis was referring to, I think I’ll just delete his comment because, well, because someone may stop in and feel… Uncomfortable …, with it.

 

 

 

Jeff- Though I do admit much of what you say about computers just kinda flitters around in my head looking for something I can understand before it flies out, I still like hearing about what you’re doing.

 

 

 

Not sure what will happen today, but with the weather as warm as it is supposed to be I should do something outside. Notice I said should.    

 

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

 

P.S. Garry-  Pardon me if thingssound a bit jumbled and out of whack making little sense. It's been a week since I've had Chinese food and I think I'm getting weak.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 42° with 80% humidity and light rain. The high will be 55° and feel like 58°.
with

This morning I did some work with the SDFloppy ][. I now have sixteen 5.25" diskettes copied to an SD card starting with the DOS 3.3 System Master. I then used the System Master to initialize directories 1 thru F so they now have the DOS image. The computer can be cold booted and start with DOS 3.3 from any directory on the card with the exception of 7 and A. Directory 7 is CP/m and will start and run under the Z80 coprocessor. Directory A is ProDOS and will start and run in that language under the G65SC02 processor on my //e or under the 6502 processor on either of my older IIe's. I no longer have to have a system diskette in one of the disk drives. The system will boot and run normally from the 0 (zero) directory of the SDFloppy ][. This morning I played an entire game of Starfleet1 solely from the SDFloppy ][ with only a blank data diskette in the drive at slot 6, drive 1. If I had this thing connected to slot 6 I wouldn't even need that! It felt good not having to change diskettes every time the program needed something from the other diskette. All I had to do was press a button to change directories. Something else that's nice is that I can copy directly from the SD card to a floppy diskette and the copy will have all the DOS support of the original and run just like the original. From what I can gather from the SD card that was supplied with the unit the programming that runs it was likely done on a Bulgarian Pravetz computer, their version of an Apple IIc clone. Whoever designed the SDFloppy unit is either a genius or one of the luckiest sad sack programmers around. I set up the SD card in MS-DOS then put it in the SDFloppy unit and my ancient Apple computer can write to and read from the card like it's an Apple hard drive. That's impressive! No, that's brilliant! That trumps my claim to fame of getting an Apple computer to communicate back to back and share programs without a modem with a Panasonic IBM XT clone back in 1985.

One of these days I'll get back home and I'll be able to talk about model railroad projects again. I can't do any of that down here without getting griped at about it. The sooner I can get back home the better.

[RideOnRoad]

galaxy

Scot Free:

Meaning: Without incurring payment; or escaping without punishmenti 

Galaxy:  I enjoy your "Good Morning" posts.  I learn something new every day.  Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Good Morning Folks!

A wet day, temperatures are at 6°C - exactly what we call "Schietwedder"!

I went to alittle hardware shop that had survived so many years, successfully fighting the fierce competition of the many DIY nstores around us, only to find it has closed for good. It was one of those places where you could buy a single washer for . It´s a pity it is gone. Where do I buy 1mm brass rod now, without being charged a fortune for postage?

Galaxy - it´s just a mock-up to verify the dimensions. Of, course I want it to look good, afterall I have invested a considerable amount of time and money (about 50 cents) into it. I could use that streetcar drive I have to power it. It´s intended to be Gn15, meaning 15" gauge in G scale, that equates to HO gauge for the track.

Will be off to my friend´s place this afternoon to add some more details to the critter, i.e. the lamps ( 6 mm aluminum tubing), air intake box (4 mm aluminum tube and a 3 mm piece of plasic, turnedon a lathe). Should he have some brass 1 mm brass rods he can spare, I´ll be able to add the hand rails.

Make it a great day!

P.S. The candle for Johnboy remains lit!

[galaxy]

Sir Madog

Good Evening GAng!

I finally got around doing some MRRing today! Nothing really fancy, but I started to w*rk on that cardboard mock-up for the lil´ critter I have been pesting you folks with the last couple of weeks. It is far from being finished - there is quite some more detail to be added, but this is a sneak preview of what it looks lie after about 8 hours of blood, sweat and tears:

... and herecompared to that On30 critter:

G scale is quite big, isn´t it?

Make it a great day!

 

 

Ulrich: That is a great cardboard mock-up. Now if you only had a G guage motor truck to put under it, you could run it 'round the track!

Love the straw for exhaust pipe! It'll melt in the heat of the exhaust, too bad! {LOL}

 

Have fun with it....

[galaxy]

morning coffee in the diner...

GOOD SATURDAY MORNING!

Today is Saturday,

December 28th, 2013!

It's the 362nd day of the year 2013, and there are only 3 more days left!

 

Scot Free:

Meaning: Without incurring payment; or escaping without punishment.

Origin:

Dred Scott was a black slave born in Virginia, USA in 1799. In several celebrated court cases, right up to the USA Supreme Court in 1857, he attempted to gain his freedom. These cases all failed but Scott was later made a free man by his so-called owners, the Blow family. Knowing this, we might feel that we don't need to look further for the origin of 'scott free'. Many people, especially in the USA, are convinced that the phrase originated with the story of Dred Scott.

The etymology of this phrase shows the danger of trying to prove a case on circumstantial evidence alone. In fact, the phrase isn't 'scott free', it is 'scot free' and it has nothing to do with Mr. Scott.

Given the reputation of Scotsmen as being careful with their money we might look to Scotland for the origin of 'scot free'. Wrong again, but at least we are in the right part of the world now. 'Skat' is a Scandinavian word for tax or payment and the word migrated to Britain and mutated into 'scot' as the name of a redistributive taxation, levied as early the 10th century as a form of municipal poor relief.

'Scot' as a term for tax has been used since then in various forms - Church scot, Rome scot, Soul scot and so on. Whatever the tax, the phrase 'getting off scot free' simply refers to not paying one's taxes.

No one likes paying tax and people have been getting off scot free since at least the 11th century. The first reference in print to 'scot free' is in the Writ of Edward the Confessor. We don't have a precise date for the writ but Edward died in 1066, which is a long time before Dred Scott.

The use of the figurative version of the phrase, that is, one where no actual scot tax was paid but in which someone escapes custody, began in the 16th century, as in this example from John Maplet's natural history Green Forest, 1567:

"Daniell scaped scotchfree by Gods prouidence."

'Scotchfree' was a variant based on a mishearing. An example of the currently used form, that is, 'scot free', comes a few years later, in Robert Greene's The Historie of Dorastus and Fawnia, 1588:

These and the like considerations something daunted Pandosto his courage, so that hee was content rather to put up a manifest injurie with peace, then hunt after revenge, dishonor and losse; determining since Egistus had escaped scot-free.

 

        MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!

Special thoughts and prayers for those in need, including Johnboy-out, Jeremy and others who need our healing energies directed towards them.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I'd be surprised if anyone picked up on something about my computer related photo I posted earlier today. It would take someone who knows the history of the Apple IIe computer to spot it and even they would have to be looking sharp. It a 1982 mother board. In about the middle of the photo there's a very legible number. Look above that number at the dark green area and you'll see a barely legible lighter green number with a letter after it. That letter is an 'A'. It's an early 'Revision A' motherboard. These 'A' boards nearly killed the IIe before it got started. At the time of the introduction of the IIe and into the first months of it's production, the 'revision A' board was factory equipment in all the IIe's. The graphics modes were identical and limited to those used by the Apple II+ before it. Maybe comparable to a modern model loco produced with a motor that was used in 1970? The logic board was not compatible with the ROM firmware update that came out later and most of the newer expansion cards didn't work with this board. This would be akin to building a color TV that shows only black and white and doesn't support the new technology. Apple changed out many of these boards with a 'Revision B' motherboard at no charge. This one was never changed. It's my mothers old IIe. I made some adaptations to it so it could use some of the later expansion cards with little or no trouble. My old IIe that I got back in 82-83 (the black one I have at home) also had a 'Revision A' motherboard but it was changed out with a 'Revision B' board later. The computer in my room here at my fathers place that I'm using to write 'Native Fury' is an 'Enhanced' IIe (or //e) that came out in 1985 and didn't have anything to do with the 'Revision A' fiasco. It came from a school up north and needed work so I rebuilt it with parts I bought on Ebay.

Time for me to call it a night. See y'all later.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good evening .....

Looks like people had a good Christmas, and I'm glad for that. We have returned from Alabama, and had some good visits there. Stayed too long to stop in Tennessee on the way back to see family there, and that means we will made a trip to Nashville a few days later. .... The Ohio family is driving here as I type and will arrive later this evening. ... So I'll continue being busy with family. 

Oh, oh .... Watch out for Vinnie. Another controversial topic was discussed in the Diner. Tsk, tsk..... Actually, I have no idea why there is controversy about one of the guys on Duck Dynasty (while not on the show) explainig his understanding of Scripture in spite of his chosing to use words that are not viewed as acceptable by some. ... I only saw the TV show one time out of curiosity, and my opinion is we should have more shows with Christian values as portrayed in this TV show. Too many other TV shows condone sinful behavior in my opinion. ... That said, I will prefer working on the layout over watching the show. 

I did receive a small gift for my HO layout for Christmas, and I will show you what it is when I have time. 

Prayers continue for JohnBoy. 

Happy Model Railroading 

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

rdgk1se3019

A question.......when you sign off of this new "updated" site do any of you get a "error 404 not found" thingy?........because I do.

Every time! There's two ways you can log out. #1 Clear your cookies/history. You can log out then. #2 Go to the Classic Toy Trains forum. They still have the old software. You can log out there.

[rdgk1se3019]

Hey all,

Happy X-mas, merry new year......and all the rest of that stuff.......

A question.......when you sign off of this new "updated" site do any of you get a "error 404 not found" thingy?........because I do.

[JeremyB]

Good to see you Dennis,

I had plans of a huge home layout also and then started to do what your doing, thinking of the associated headaches. I have a small 2X10 switching layout and for me I enjoy it alot. I would love a big layout and the guys that can build them are insprational but for me I enjoy a small layout.

[chochowillie]

I've been sitting down in the layout room doing some serious thinking about just what I'm going to do with the darn thing. The more I work on it the more I see the problems with it like too much hidden track... how will I keep it clean. Grades that are too steep in places and limited operational possibilities. 

Some where along the line, I seem to have strayed too far from the original plan and it just doesn't seem to be a good idea to continue. 

The other thing that I find is that I just can't seem to get motivated to work on the darned thing given the foregoing. Oh yes, one more thing.... it seems to be overwhelming in size.

All of which tells me to tear it down and build a smaller layout that has some chance of getting finnished. Use a published plan that is a proven winner and just get on with the whole process.

I hate to say it but I really should have taken heed of an article back a few years ago about a fellow who downsized his home and built a new layout in a much more attainable size give his reduced level of income, age etc.

Sooo, I think once we get past all this Christmas/New Year stuff, the wrecking ball will be going into action.

Now to find a track plan that I can live with. 

Best of the season to you all.

Dennis

[JeremyB]

Evening/afternoon guys

Cool and cloudy here today. Christmas to me feels like it was already weeks ago, cant believe it has come and gone. Went to the hobby shop today to pick up a couple freight car kits and some atheran parts as welll as a can of dullcote. Might start putting together one of them tonight. There is a train show in a few weeks and I sometimes buy a couple there as well. Other then that not much going on here. Thanks Galaxy for the kind words, Im feeling better now but still have to get some bloodwork done next week sometime.

Talk to you guys later tonight or tomorrow.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

TMarsh

Jeffrey- Oh My!! I didn’t realize how small that SD drive thing is. Well, I guess I did, it just didn’t hit me until I saw it next to the 5.25 drives. Thing probably gets lost under your thumb!

Well it's not quite that small. It's an inch high, inch and a half across and about two inces deep. If it drops down out of sight I can reel it in with the big drive cable that's plugged ino it.

*

Good afternoon. It's 51° with 43% humidity. The high will be 58° and it is cloudy. Looks like maybe a 50% chance of rain Saturday.


I haven't had any computer time today as I've been with my father while he was out running errands. Besides the usual stops at the post office and pharmacy we also went to Burger King for lunch. I tried the 'Angry Whopper' and I like it. From there we went to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries and I got a new 8Gb SD card which I've already formatted and transferred my SDFloppy II template to it. It's already in the SDFloppy II drive emulator. So far I've copied my System Master diskette onto it so I can access the system utilities directly.

Well it's taken me about an hour to type up this post. I was interrupted by the Home Health nurse who checks up on my general health and looks after my remaining natural foot. She also checked my stump to make sure the prosthesis isn't doing anything bad to it. That all took about forty-five minutes.

[Anonymous]

Good Evening GAng!

I finally got around doing some MRRing today! Nothing really fancy, but I started to w*rk on that cardboard mock-up for the lil´ critter I have been pesting you folks with the last couple of weeks. It is far from being finished - there is quite some more detail to be added, but this is a sneak preview of what it looks lie after about 8 hours of blood, sweat and tears:

... and herecompared to that On30 critter:

G scale is quite big, isn´t it?

howmus

Duck DieNasty

Ray - that´s a good one! Took me a minute to get it - I must be getting older!

Make it a great day!

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

A great 3rd. day of Christmas to all of you and second day of Kwanzaa, and the seventh day of the Yule...  There I have most everything covered....

I will be heading out to my sister's house to again celebrate the Season with her (what ever she has decided to do this year )  I just went down to the local chocolate shop to buy a few more bags of Bark for the folks at the party and found they are closed until Jan. 2nd.  Guess the chocolate chip cookies will have to do instead.

Galaxy

you and I think the same on certain subjects.  As far a Duck DieNasty goes, I think the whole thing started out as an unauthorized publicity stunt and went very bad....  Too bad those that hold very narrow ideas about right and wrong seem to be totally OK with some other Taboos like... (OK I will shut up now before I get into trouble).  Looks like I missed some fun out on the main forum as there appears to be some "missing" threads there.  Hmmmmm......

Just about time for me to pack the PiP and head to Canandaigua.

Hope all of you have a wonderful day filled with Peace and Joy!  Don't forget to be caring, be a friend to all, and forgive all those who have done you harm in any way!

73

[galaxy]

WElp!

I just thought I'd pop in ot see the mornign greetings and my saved link comes up "web page not found"!

I had to come in the "back door" and type in trains.com.

TODD: it is amazing all the atrocities created and carried out in the name of "religion"! I will say no more! IT is supposed to be of love caring and forgiveness, tolerance and getting along peacefully was the basic principles of the man who walked the earth 2000 years ago. Amazing how that often seems not the case in the name of "religion"! That's all I'll say on the subject afore i get a moderator after you and me!

Ducky Dynasty ..pish posh, don't follow it don't care to...

welp, on to laundry and boring mundane thing-a-ma-giggers!

Have  A MERRY day after day after!!!

 

[inch53]

Mornin, just black coffee please Zoe,,,, Suns shining, light breeze, with a high round 40 today.

Made it through surgery and home, a little sore today, but not bad, thanks to some good drugs.

TODD,,,, there’s not to many here that go all out with decorating anymore. We use to do quit abit, but money got tight and electric high.

I best go lay down,, afore I start hurtin more. Thoughts n prayers for all in need and hope ya’ll has a gooden

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

 

Coffee and breakfast burrito please. Thanks.

 

Jeffrey- Oh My!! I didn’t realize how small that SD drive thing is. Well, I guess I did, it just didn’t hit me until I saw it next to the 5.25 drives. Thing probably gets lost under your thumb!

 

Duck Dynasty St Patty’s hats…..I wonder if there’ll be a Phil one or do their convictions end with a dollar to be made. Could be interesting. Especially since many are calling for a boycott of anything labeled Duck Dynasty as that is an A&E profiting item. They're saying buy Duck Commander instead because that is a 100% Robertson family item of which A&E has no take. Now I am NOT saying do anything of the kind, nor am I saying I do, will or will not. Just saying what I heard and read and am curious as to how it unfolds. 

 

( Comment edited out by me because well.....,   keeps Vinnie from having to possibly step up sometime. Maybe, maybe not. It just makes me feel better for the forum  either way.)

 

Welp, w*rk again tonight and in the meantime…more cleaning out.

 

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

[galaxy]

I forgot:

Special thoughts and prayers with prayer candles for:

Johnboy-out; For Jeremy B., for others who neeed them, and for world peace.

In the spirit of the Atheist thread here on the forum:

You don't have to believe in a Diety {and thusly "prayer" as it might be thought of in the religious nature}  to believe the universe has powerful healing energy{ies} to heal those in need if we direct our energy patterns in the direction of those who need healing thoughts/energy/prayers!

 

Jeremy B: I hate Jan-March, too, and often thought they should have picked mid-February to celebrate Christmas, so we'd have festivness in the dead of winter. BUT: I look at it this way: February is the SHORTEST month of the year so it is over in a jiffy. Perhaps when the calendar was set up, they knew what they were doing? Being Bi-polar, I am naturally prone to depressions, and must be careful in the dead of winter to NOT be extra-depressed, and hope for a more livelier "manic" episodes-though those can have consequences too...

Make today a GREAT day!

[galaxy]

morning coffee in the diner...

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING!

Today is Friday,

December 27th, 2013!!!

The end is coming, the end is coming! {Of the year, that is!}

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY

Today's word:

Gadabout: noun: One who roams around in search of amusement

Etymology:

From "gad" (to go around from one place to another aimlessly). Earliest documented use: 1817. 

Usage:
"The film charted Zelda Kaplan's transformation from homemaker to social gadabout flitting from party to party."
Ruth La Ferla; Zelda Kaplan; The New York Times; Feb 18, 2012.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Nothing additional to report. Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

[kbkchooch]

galaxy

Valentines ! ALready! 

 

Walmart was putting out St Patty's day stuff today, along with green hats with yellow bills,,,,yup, Duck Dynasty St Patty's day hats!  

[kbkchooch]

Ray, I gave each of my sisters a throw pillow that reads: "I smile because you are my sister, I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it!" Got both of em laughing!